Jerry-Sir ESL Blog: 2014

The very popular clip on Youtube this week: "Look Up"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY

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I have 422 friends, yet I am lonely.

I speak to all of them everyday, yet none

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of them really know me.

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The problem I have sits in the spaces between,

looking into their eyes, or at a name on a screen.

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I took a step back, and opened my eyes,

I looked around, and then realised

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that this media we call social, is anything

but

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when we open our computers, and it's our doors

we shut.

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All this technology we have, it's just an

illusion,

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of community, companionship, a sense of inclusion

yet when you step away from this device of delusion,

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you awaken to see, a world of confusion.

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A world where we're slaves to the technology

we mastered,

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where our information gets sold by some rich

greedy bastard.

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A world of self-interest, self-image, self-promotion,

where we all share all our best bits, but leave

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out the emotion.

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We are at our most happy with an experience

we share,

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but is it the same if no one is there.

Be there for you friends, and they'll be there too

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but no one will be, if a group message will do.

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We edit and exaggerate, we crave adulation,

we pretend we don't notice the social isolation.

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We put our words into order, until our lives

are glistening,

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we don't even know if anyone is listening.

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Being alone isn't the problem, let me just

emphasize,

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that if you read a book, paint a picture,

or do some exercise,

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you are being productive, and present, not

reserved or recluse,

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you're being awake and attentive, and putting

your time to good use.

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So when you're in public, and you start to

feel alone,

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put your hands behind your head, and step

away from the phone.

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You don't need to stare at your menu, or at

your contact list,

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just talk to one another, and learn to co-exist.

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I can't stand to hear the silence, of a busy

commuter train,

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when no one wants to talk through the fear

of looking insane.

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We're becoming unsocial, it no longer satisfies

to engage with one another, and look into

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someone's eyes.

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We're surrounded by children, who since they

were born,

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watch us living like robots, and think it's

the norm.

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It's not very likely you will make world's

greatest dad,

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if you cant entertain a child without a using

an iPad.

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When I was a child, I would never be home,

I'd be out with my friends, on our bikes we

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would roam.

We'd ware holes in our trainers, and graze

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up our knees;

we'd build our own clubhouse, high up in the trees.

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Now the parks are so quiet, it gives me a

chill

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to see no children outside and the swings

hanging still.

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There's no skipping, no hopscotch, no church

and no steeple,

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we're a generation of idiots, smart phones

and dumb people.

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So look up from your phone, shut down that

display,

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take in your surroundings, and make the most

of today.

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Just one real connection is all it can take,

to show you the difference that being there can make.

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Be there in the moment, when she gives you

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the look,

that you remember forever, as when love overtook.

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The time you first hold her hand, or first

kiss her lips,

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the time you first disagree, but still love

her to bits.

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The time you don't have to tell hundreds,

about what you've just done,

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because you want to share this moment, with

just this one.

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The time you sell your computer, so you can

buy a ring,

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for the girl of your dreams, who is now the

real thing.

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The time you want to start a family, and the

moment when,

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you first hold your little girl, and get to

fall in love again.

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The time she keeps you up at night, and all

you want is rest,

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and the time you wipe away the tears, as your

baby flees the nest.

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The time your little girl returns, with a

boy for you to hold,

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and the time he calls you granddad, and makes

you feel real old

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The time you take in all you've made, just

by giving life attention,

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and how your glad you didn't waste it, by

looking down at some invention.

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The time you hold your wife's hand, and sit

down beside her bed

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you tell her that you love her, and lay a

kiss upon her head.

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She then whispers to you quietly, as her heart

gives a final beat,

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that she's lucky she got stopped, by that

lost boy in the street.

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But none of these times ever happened, you

never had any of this,

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When you're too busy looking down, you don't

see the chances you miss.

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So look up from your phone, shut down those

displays,

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we have a finite existence, a set number of

days.

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Don't waste your life getting caught in the

net,

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as when the end comes, nothing's worse than

regret.

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I am guilty too, of being part of this machine,

this digital world, we are heard but

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not seen.

Where we type as we talk, we read as we chat

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where we spend hours together, without making eye contact.

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Don't give in to a life where you follow the

hype,

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give people your love, don't give them your

like.

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Disconnect from the need to be heard and defined

Go out into the world, leave distractions behind.

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Look up from your phone, shut down that display,

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stop watching this video, live life the real

way.

Jerry-Sir ESL Blog

Monday, July 14, 2014

Student New Production (Huaxing News 20120131)

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Workplace English (3) Vocabulary Review (units 4, 6, 9)

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Workplace English (3) Page 56-58

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Youtube Video: Look Up (subtitles)